Methods and systems for managing an inventory of telephone numbers

ABSTRACT

A system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include storing telephone number inventory data using a database associated with a network, receiving, from a user system, a request for telephone number forecast data, forecasting future telephone number usage based on at least a history of telephone number inventory data, and providing, to the user system, telephone number forecast data based on at least the forecast of future telephone number usage.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Some companies that specialize in providing telephone numbers to endusers may maintain a large inventory of telephone numbers. Thesecompanies may consistently receive requests for new telephone numbersand notifications of end of use of telephone numbers in large amounts ona daily basis. Based on this type of activity, the companies maymaintain some methods for selecting telephone numbers and some methodsfor forecasting telephone numbers. In some instances, however, thesemethods may not efficiently manage the large inventory of telephonenumbers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to facilitate a fuller understanding of the exemplaryembodiments, reference is now made to the appended drawings. Thesedrawings should not be construed as limiting, but are intended to beexemplary only.

FIG. 1 illustrates a telephone number management system architecture inaccordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary modules of a telephone number managementsystem in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary telephone number forecast reports providedby a telephone number management system in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary screen display of input parameters inaccordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a telephone numberutilization report in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary screen display of current datahierarchy in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 6B illustrates an exemplary screen display of modified datahierarchy in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary screen display of another telephonenumber utilization report in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary screen display of an inward activityreport in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary screen display of an outward activityreport in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a forecast detailreport in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a telephone numberforecast report at a rate-center view in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a twelve-monthforecast report in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a jeopardy analysisreport at a rate-center level view in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a jeopardy analysisreport at a switch level view in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a K-Block analysisreport in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 16A illustrates an exemplary screen display of a portion of aK-Block request in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 16B illustrates an exemplary screen display of another portion of aK-Block request in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary three phase telephone number selectionprocess in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary telephone number selection algorithm inaccordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 19A illustrates an exemplary screen display of a telephone numberselection graphical user interface in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 19B illustrates another exemplary screen display of a telephonenumber selection graphical user interface in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 19C illustrates yet another exemplary screen display of a telephonenumber selection graphical user interface in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 19D illustrates even further an exemplary screen display of atelephone number selection graphical user interface in accordance withexemplary embodiments;

FIG. 20 illustrates a method for managing an inventory of telephonenumbers in accordance with exemplary embodiments; and

FIG. 21 illustrates a method for selecting a telephone number inaccordance with exemplary embodiments.

These and other embodiments and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles ofthe various exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A telephone management system may be configured to forecast futuretelephone number usage based on past telephone number usage and/orsearch for and/or provide a telephone number associated with aninventory of telephone numbers based on various search criteria. Invarious embodiments, forecasting future telephone number usage mayinclude analyzing past historical trends in telephone number usage. Invarious embodiments, providing a telephone number associated with aninventory may include first providing one or more telephone numbers thatare not associated with a numerical pattern and then providing one ormore telephone numbers that are associated with a numerical pattern. Invarious embodiments, one or more telephone numbers associated with anumerical pattern may be provided upon customer request.

The description below describes telephone number management systems,user systems, and network elements that may include one or more modules,some of which are explicitly shown in the figures, others that are not.As used herein, the term “module” may be understood to refer tocomputing software, firmware, hardware, and/or various combinationsthereof. It is noted that the modules are exemplary. The modules may becombined, integrated, separated, and/or duplicated to support variousapplications. Also, a function described herein as being performed at aparticular module may be performed at one or more other modules and/orby one or more other devices instead of or in addition to the functionperformed at the particular module. Further, the modules may beimplemented across multiple devices and/or other components local orremote to one another. Additionally, the modules may be moved from onedevice and added to another device, and/or may be included in bothdevices.

It is further noted that the software described herein may be tangiblyembodied in one or more physical media, such as, but not limited to, acompact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppy disk, a harddrive, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), as well asother physical media capable of storing software, and/or combinationsthereof. Moreover, the figures illustrate various components (e.g.,telephone number management systems, user systems, etc.) separately. Thefunctions described as being performed at various components may beperformed at other components, and the various components may becombined and/or separated. Other modifications also may be made.

A telephone number management system may be configured to manage aninventory of one or more telephone numbers by managing one or moreblocks of one or more telephone numbers. A block of one or moretelephone numbers may include a set of a thousand telephone numbers. Forexample, a 813-978-0 block may begin with a telephone number of813-978-0000 and may end with a telephone number of 813-978-0999. Inanother example, a 313-544-1 block may begin with a telephone number of313-544-1000 and may end with a telephone number of 313-544-1999. In yetanother example, a 404-555-7 block may begin with a telephone number of404-555-7000 and may end with a telephone number of 404-555-7999. Invarious embodiments, the telephone number management system may beconfigured to utilize telephone numbers associated with the mostcontaminated blocks prior to utilizing telephone numbers associated withthe least contaminated blocks. A contaminated block may include a blockwhere up to 10% of the telephone numbers associated with the block areassigned to end-users. An uncontaminated block may include a block whereless than 10% of the telephone numbers associated with the block areassigned to end-users.

In various embodiments, the telephone number management system may beconfigured to store telephone number data in a hierarchy. A hierarchymay include an organization of data into parent member-child memberrelationships where a parent member may represent a consolidation of thechildren members associated with the parent member. For example, aparent member may include state data (e.g., California, etc.) and mayinclude rate center data (e.g., Alamitos, Palo Alto, etc.) as childrenmembers. Accordingly, the telephone number management system mayidentify a telephone number by an assignment of hierarchy levelsassociated with the telephone number. For example, a telephone numbermay be associated with a state level, a rate center level, a numberingplan area (“NPA”) level, a NXX level, a K-block level, and/or any otherlevel that may be used to identify a particular telephone number. Statelevel data may include data to identify a particular state (e.g.,California, Maryland, etc.). Rate center level data may include data toidentify a particular geographic area that distinguishes rate boundariesin which telephone calls may be priced the same. In various embodiments,a state level may include one or more rate center levels. NPA level datamay include data to identify a three-digit area code for a particulartelephone calling area. For example, the three-digit area code mayinclude a number in the first position that is any number from two (2)to nine (9), a number in the second position that is any number fromzero (0) to nine (9), and a number in the third position that is anynumber from zero (0) to nine (9). In various embodiments, a rate centerlevel may include one or more NPA levels. NXX level data may includedata to identify three-digit code associated with an exchange code of aNorth American Numbering Plan telephone number. A North AmericanNumbering Plan format may include “Area Code”+“Exchange Code”+“LineNumber” or NPA-NXX-XXXX. For example, the NXX may include a number inthe first position that is any number from two (2) to nine (9), a numberin the second position that is any number from zero (0) to nine (9), anda number in the third position that is any number from zero (0) to nine(9). In various embodiments, a NPA level may include one or more NXXlevels. K-block level data may include data to identify a particularblock. For example, the block 313-544-1 may be associated with the one(1) block of the NPA “313” and NXX “544.” In various embodiments, a NXXlevel may include one or more K-block levels.

Based on design preferences, a company associated with the telephonenumber management system may maintain, in reserve, a sufficient amountof telephone numbers to service pre-existing customer, as well as, newcustomers. Accordingly, the telephone number management system may beconfigured to forecast future telephone number usage by calculatingforecasting data that is based on historical trends in inventory data.Inventory data may include a snap shot of available telephone numbers,assigned telephone numbers, negotiated telephone numbers, and/or anyother status of a telephone number that indicates inventory data for agiven period of time (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). An availabletelephone number may include a telephone number that is not assigned toa customer and is therefore available for selection. An assignedtelephone number may include a telephone number that is assigned to acustomer and is therefore not available for selection. A negotiatedtelephone number may include a telephone number that is in the processof being negotiated to be assigned to a customer and is therefore notavailable for selection. If, for example, the negotiated telephonenumber is not assigned to a customer after a negotiation process, thenegotiated telephone number may become an available telephone number.

The telephone number management system may be associated with one ormore customers that are companies with several employees. A company maydesire several telephone numbers that are in sequential order to make iteasier for employees to memorize telephone numbers associated with otheremployees. Accordingly, the company may request a block of one-thousand(1,000) telephone numbers that are in sequential order from theimplementers of the telephone number management system. For example, theABC Corporation may reside in Washington D.C. and may have one-thousand(1,000) employees working at the Washington D.C. location. To makecontacting employees at the Washington D.C. location more efficient, ABCCorporation may request one-thousand (1,000) telephone numbersassociated with the Washington D.C. servicing area that are insequential order. Accordingly, the implementers of the telephone numbermanagement system may search for and/or provide the ABC Corporation witha block of telephone numbers (e.g., the 202-555-1 block, 202-555-7block, 202-955-3 block, etc.) that are associated with the WashingtonD.C. servicing area.

In various embodiments, the telephone number management system may beconfigured to select one or more telephone numbers for a customer froman inventory of one or more telephone numbers. The telephone numbermanagement system may select a telephone number by searching for atelephone number in various search phases. A search phase may employ oneor more search rules that may define how a search may be run. Forexample, a first phase may include searching for available telephonenumbers associated with particular geographic areas, such as, a targetswitch area and/or a target terminating traffic area/area centraloffice. An area central office (ACO) may include a geographic area thatis served by a wire center that is associated with a particular exchangearea and/or rate center area. A target switch area may include aparticular geographical area associated with a particular switching unitof a telephone company by means of which communication between exchangetelephone lines may be established. A target terminating traffic/ACOarea may include a particular geographical area served by a wire centerthat may be within a particular rate center area which identifies a setof addresses. A wire center may include a geographical area thatincludes all customers whose telephone service may be provided by thesame central switching office. The telephone number management systemmay also apply various search criteria in each phase. A search criteriamay include one or more steps to be followed when searching for aparticular telephone number.

FIG. 1 illustrates a telephone number management system architecture 100in accordance with exemplary embodiments. The telephone numbermanagement system 102 may be communicatively coupled to one or more usersystems 104 via one or more networks 106. A user system 104 may beassociated with a user of the telephone number management system 102,such as, an employee of a telephone company implementing the telephonenumber management system 102. It should be noted that the phrase “user”is used to refer to an entity and/or individual that may access and/oruse the telephone number management system 102. Thus users may includeemployees of telephone companies that are responsible for providingtelephone numbers.

The network 106 may include an analog telephone network, a digitaltelephone network, a cellular telephone network, a public wide areanetwork (“WAN”), such as the Internet, or, different connections, suchas combinations of public and private WANs, local areas networks(“LANs”), wireless LANs, encrypted networks, body area networks, orother wired or wireless networks. In an exemplary embodiment, thenetwork 106 may include one or more networks operating as a stand-alonenetwork or in cooperation with each other. Use of the term networkherein is not intended to limit the network to a single network.

The telephone number management system 102 may receive request messages,input parameters, and/or any other input data from a user system 104.The request messages may include request data associated with a userrequesting a forecast of telephone number usage for a given period oftime. A forecast of telephone number usage may include an estimation ofthe amount of available telephone numbers, unavailable telephonenumbers, and/or negotiated telephone numbers for a period of time in thefuture. Input parameters may include parameters that may be used by thetelephone number management system 102 to provide the telephone numberforecast and/or telephone number utilization data.

For example, input parameters may include time interval information,level of expansion information, and/or filter information. Time intervalinformation may include information associated with a past time interval(e.g., January, 2007, etc.), current time interval (March, 2008, etc.)and/or future time interval (e.g., June, 2009). Level of expansioninformation may include information associated with the levels a usermay desire to view. For example, a user may desire to view the statelevel, rate center level, and NPA level. Accordingly, the user maysubmit input parameters associated with these levels. Filter informationmay include information associated with limiting the data returned froma query based on user preferences. For example, a user may desire toview only the “455” NPA of the state of California. Accordingly, theuser may input “California” as the state level and “455” as the NPAlevel.

The request messages may include request data associated with a userrequesting one or more telephone numbers from the telephone numbermanagement system 102 for a customer. In an exemplary embodiment,request data may include a unique customer identification numberinformation associated with a specific type of telephone number desiredby the customer, a customer address, and/or any other information thatmay be used to process a request for one or more telephone numbers. Forexample, a customer may desire to have a telephone number that spellsout “CALL ME,” such as, 555-CAL-LMEE. Accordingly, a user may input thespecific type of telephone desired information. Based on the requestmessages, input parameters, and/or input data, the telephone numbermanagement system 102 may create, access, and/or store one or morerecords associated with a database of the telephone number managementsystem 102.

In an exemplary embodiment, the telephone number management system 102may receive a request from a user system 104 for one or more telephonenumbers. The telephone number management system 102 may also receivecustomer address data from the user system 104. Based on this requestand the customer address data, the telephone number management system102 may access one or more databases and/or search for an availabletelephone number by employing various search techniques described infurther detail below. If, for example, a customer has requested aspecific telephone number (e.g., 555-CAL-LMEE, etc.), the telephonenumber management system 102 may search for and assign the specificnumber to the customer if the telephone number is available. If,however, a customer has not requested a specific telephone number, thetelephone number management system 102 may employ one or more searchphases and/or one or more search criteria (described in further detailbelow) to locate an available telephone number.

In exemplary embodiments, the telephone number management systemarchitecture 100 may include a telephone number management system 102communicatively coupled to a network 106 and one or more user systems104 communicatively coupled to the network 106. The network 106 maycommunicate request messages, input parameters, and/or any other inputdata from the user system 104 to the telephone number management system102. The network 106 may allow one or more user systems 104 to accesstelephone number forecast data and/or telephone number selection dataassociated with and/or generated by the telephone number managementsystem 102.

In an exemplary embodiment, a customer associated with the telephonenumber management system 102 may communicate request data via a customerservice representative (not shown) associated with the telephone numbermanagement system 102. The customer service representative may inputrequest data into the telephone number management system 102 via a usersystem 104.

In an exemplary embodiment, the user system 104 may be a hardware devicethat may communicate request messages, input parameters, and/or anyother input data to the network 106, may cause access of telephonenumber forecast data, telephone number utilization data, and/ortelephone number selection data using the network 106, and may receivemessages from the network 106. The user system 104 may include, but isnot limited to, a computer device, a communication device, a personalcomputer (PC), a workstation, a mobile device, a handheld PC, a thinsystem, a fat system, a network appliance, an Internet browser, aserver, or any other communication device capable of transmittingrequest messages, input parameters, and/or any other input data,accessing telephone number forecast data, telephone number utilizationdata, and/or telephone number selection data, and/or receiving messages.In an exemplary embodiment, the user system 104 may include an interfaceto display information received from the telephone number managementsystem 102 over the network 106.

It is noted that the telephone number management system architecture 100illustrates a simplified view of various components included in atelephone number management system architecture 100, and that otherhardware devices and software not depicted may be included in thetelephone number management system architecture 100. It is also notedthat the telephone number management system architecture 100 illustratesonly a single telephone number management system 102, a single network106, and a single user system 104. It will be appreciated that multipleinstances of these devices may be used. The telephone number managementsystem 102 is discussed in further detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates various modules of the telephone number managementsystem 102 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. In an exemplaryembodiment, the telephone number management system 102 may include acommunication module 204, an inventory module 200, a database module202, an interface module 206, a telephone number forecasting module 208,and a telephone number selection module 210. It is noted that themodules 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210 are exemplary. The functions ofthe modules 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210 may be performed at othermodules remote or local to the telephone number management system 102,and the modules 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210 may be combined and/orseparated.

The communication module 204 may include software and/or hardwareoperable to receive telephone number management data which may includerequest messages, input parameters, and/or any other input data from auser system 104 and may communicate the telephone number management datato various modules associated with the telephone number managementsystem 102 using the network 106. The communication module 204 maycommunicate messages received from the other modules 200, 202, 206, 208,and 210 to the network 106, and may communicate messages to the othermodules 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210 received from the network 106.

The database module 202 may include software and/or hardware operable toaccess and store various information in one or more databases (notshown) associated with the telephone number management system 102. Invarious embodiments, the one or more databases may include a largestorage capacity (e.g., terabytes of data, etc.). The database module206 may include any device for accessing and storing various informationin one or more databases. In various embodiments, one or more databasesmay store telephone number management data which may include one or morerequest messages, one or more input parameters, input data, one or moretelephone numbers, and/or any other telephone number management dataassociated with the telephone number management system 102. Thetelephone number management data may further include request data, inputparameter data, inventory data, telephone number usage data, telephonenumber forecast data, and/or telephone number selection data.

The database module 202 may serve as a gateway from the modules 204,200, 206, 208, and 210 of the telephone number management system 102 toone or more databases. In one or more embodiments, one or more modules204, 200, 206, 208, and 210 may access the one or more databases withoutgoing through the database module 202.

The inventory module 200 may include software and/or hardware operableto collect, access, and/or store inventory data. Inventory data mayinclude telephone number usage data. For example, inventory data mayinclude a snap shot of the usage status of one or more telephone numbersassociated with the telephone number management system 102 for a givenperiod of time (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). In variousembodiments, inventory data may include a monthly snap shot of the usagestatus of one or more available telephone numbers, one or more assignedtelephone numbers, one or more negotiated telephone numbers, and/or anyother usage status of one or more telephone numbers that indicate howand if the telephone numbers are being used. In various embodiments, theinventory module 200 may collect, access, and/or store inventory datafor one or more telephone numbers associated with one or more statelevel areas and/or one or more wire center areas.

The telephone number forecasting module 208 may include software and/orhardware operable to aggregate inventory data to generate telephonenumber usage forecast data, determine and/or indicate potential jeopardyareas, and/or facilitate requests for additional telephone numberinventory. Based on historical trends in inventory data, telephonenumber forecast module 208 may calculate and/or generate telephonenumber usage forecast data. Telephone number usage forecast data mayinclude an estimation of the amount of available telephone numbers,unavailable telephone numbers, and/or negotiated telephone numbers for aperiod of time in the future. For example, for the state of Californiaand NPA of “209,” telephone number forecasting module 208 may usehistorical trends in the amount of unavailable telephone numbers toforecast and/or estimate for a future time interval an amount ofunavailable telephone numbers in the same region. Estimation and/orforecasting techniques may include those known in the art. In variousembodiments, telephone number forecasting module 208 may be configuredto output the telephone number usage forecast data in various reports.

The telephone number forecasting module 208 may be configured todetermine and/or indicate potential jeopardy areas. A jeopardy area mayinclude a telephone number servicing area that is close to exhausting aninventory of available telephone numbers that is associated with thatparticular telephone number servicing area. A telephone number servicingarea may include one or more geographical areas associated with aparticular inventory of telephone numbers.

Determining potential jeopardy areas may include analyzing inventorydata to determine which, if any, telephone number servicing areas areclose to exhaustion. Accordingly, telephone number forecasting module208 may be configured to determine the percentage of telephone numberutilization for each telephone number servicing area. Based on thepercentage of telephone number utilization, telephone number forecastingmodule 208 may determine if a particular telephone number servicing areais near exhaustion by comparing the percentage of telephone numberutilization to a pre-determined exhaustion threshold. If, for example,the percentage of telephone number utilization is greater than thepre-determined exhaustion threshold, the telephone number forecastingmodule 208 may determine that the particular telephone number servicingarea is close to exhaustion. If, however, the percentage of telephonenumber utilization is less than the pre-determined exhaustion threshold,the telephone number forecasting module 208 may determine that theparticular telephone number servicing area is not close to exhaustion.In various embodiments, the pre-determined exhaustion threshold may bedetermined by the implementers of the telephone number management system102 based on various design preferences. The telephone numberforecasting module 208 may be configured to output the determination ofone or more jeopardy areas in various reports.

The telephone number forecasting module 208 may be configured tofacilitate requests for additional telephone number inventory. Based onregulations associated with governmental agencies, a company associatedwith the telephone number management system 102 may be required tomaintain a sufficient amount of telephone numbers to servicepre-existing customers, as well as, new customers. Accordingly,telephone number forecasting module 208 may be configured to facilitaterequests for additional telephone number inventory by generating variousrequest forms. Based on jeopardy area determinations and/or telephonenumber usage forecasts, the telephone number forecasting module 208 mayoutput various request forms. The telephone number forecasting module208 may be configured to transmit one or more completed request forms toone or more governmental agencies using the communication module 204.

The telephone number selection module 210 may include software and/orhardware operable to search for and/or output one or more telephonenumbers in response to a customer request. Searching for a telephonenumber may include performing three search phases. The telephone numberselection module 210 may be configured to perform the first search phaseby searching for a telephone number that is associated with a particulartarget switch level. The telephone number selection module 210 may beconfigured to perform the second search phase by searching for atelephone number that is associated with one or more other switches inthe same wire center (e.g., target wire center, etc.) as the targetswitch. The target wire center may also be associated with the ratecenter in the second search phase. The telephone number selection module210 may be configured to perform the third search phase (e.g., ratecenter search, etc.) by searching one or more other switches associatedwith the rate center and that are outside of the target wire center.

In various embodiments, the third search phase may be implemented tocomply with governmental agency mandates. For example, a governmentalagency mandate may include a number resource optimization mandate thatmay respond to an increasing industry-wide demand for telephonenumbering resources and an effort to prevent telephone number serviceproviders from accumulating excessive inventories of telephone numbersand stranding unused telephone numbers. In various embodiments, thenumber resource optimization mandate may be applicable to telephonenumber utilization and/or telephone number optimization at the ratecenter level.

Within each search phase of the telephone number searching process, thetelephone number selection module 210 may be configured to search forprogressively better quality telephone numbers (e.g., telephone numbersassociated with patterns, telephone numbers associated with a sequence,telephone number associated with multiples of one-thousand (1,000)and/or multiples of one-hundred (100), etc.) by executing specificsearch criteria. For example, the telephone number selection module 210may be configured to search for and/or retrieve telephone numbersassociated with a higher rating code (e.g., line number ending with“000”) and telephone numbers in sequence groups (e.g., a group ofavailable telephone numbers associated with an incremental sequence) inthe event the supply of normal telephone numbers (e.g., telephonenumbers not associated with a defined pattern) is low. A rating code mayinclude a rating that that indicates the quality of a telephone numberbased on the pattern of the last four digits of a ten digit telephonenumber. The specific search criteria will be discussed in further detailbelow.

The telephone number selection module 210 may be configured to supportvarious types of telephone number requests. For example, the telephonenumber selection module 210 may be configured to support normaltelephone number searching, random telephone number searching, goodtelephone number searching, sequential telephone number searching, wildcard telephone number searching, alpha-numeric telephone numbersearching, and/or any other type of telephone number searching. A goodtelephone number may include a telephone number that is desirable formost customers. For example, a good telephone number may include atelephone number with repeating digits and/or line number digits thatare multiples of one-hundred (100) or one-thousand (1,000). A goodtelephone number may include a telephone number that is good for aspecific customer. For example, a telephone number that is good for aspecific customer may include a telephone number with digits that spellpart of a customer's personal information, such as, a customer's firstname, a customer's last name, a customer's street number, a customer'sstreet name, and/or a customer's social security number.

The telephone number selection module 210 may be configured to searchfor and/or retrieve an available telephone number and place theretrieved telephone number in locking status during the negotiationprocess. The telephone number selection module 210 may be configured tokeep the locked telephone number in locking status until the lockedtelephone number is assigned to a customer or released from thenegotiation process. Locking the telephone numbers during thenegotiation process may ensure that one or more users systems associatedwith the telephone number management system 102 do not negotiate thesame available telephone numbers during the same time period. If, forexample, a user system in a negotiation process with a locked telephonenumber fails to send a release request (e.g., a request for the lockedtelephone number to go back to available status) for the unassignedlocked telephone number, the telephone number selection module 210 mayunlock and release the locked telephone number within a pre-determinedamount of time.

The telephone number selection module 210 may be configured to searchfor and/or retrieve available telephone numbers that are associated withthe most contaminated K-blocks (e.g., K-blocks associated with the leastamount of available telephone numbers). Accordingly, the K-blocks thatare associated with the greatest amounts of available telephone numbersmay be preserved until the K-blocks that are associated with the leastamounts of available telephone numbers are exhausted in accordance withtelephone number pooling mandates administered by various governmentalagencies.

Telephone number pooling may include a telephone number administrationprocess and/or telephone number assignment process that allocatestelephone numbering resources using a shared-industry inventoryassociated with a particular geographic rate center area. For example,in the United States, K-block telephone number pooling may involve theallocation of K-blocks of sequential telephone numbers within the sameNPA/NXX area to different telephone number service providers who servecustomers within the same NPA rate center area. All ten thousandtelephone numbers associated with a particular NPA/NXX area may continueto be assigned to one rate center area, but may be allocated to one ormore telephone number service providers at the K-block level. Thetelephone numbering resource may be allocated from a shared industrytelephone number inventory and may be administered in one or moreK-blocks of one thousand telephone numbers for assignment to a telephonenumber service provider participating in that particular rate centerarea.

The telephone number selection module 210 may be configured to implementcaching techniques to pre-execute various telephone number selectionphases and/or steps in anticipation of a user request and store the datain a cache to improve retrieval response times. In various embodiments,these implemented caching techniques may permit the search and/orretrieval of one or more telephone numbers without executing a searchalgorithm.

The telephone number forecasting module 208 and/or telephone numberselection module 210 may transmit a graphical representation of outputdata to the interface module 206 to enable transmission and subsequentdisplay of the output data to the user via the user system 104.

Interface module 206 may transmit the outputs from the modulesassociated with the telephone number management system 102 in a formthat users associated with the telephone number management system 102may perceive using, for example, a user system. In various embodiments,the interface module 206 may be a web server to organize and displayinformation viewable on software installed on a user system.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary telephone number forecast reports 300provided by a telephone number management system 102 in accordance withexemplary embodiments. As previously discussed, the telephone numbermanagement system 102 may be configured to output telephone number usageforecast data in the format of various reports. Each report listed maybe generated by the telephone number management system 102 and outputtedto a user via a user system.

For example, telephone number management system 102 may be configured togenerate a telephone number utilization report based on various inputparameters. A telephone number utilization report may provide a view oftelephone number utilization data for various levels, such as, amount oftelephone numbers assigned, amount of telephone number unassigned,amount of telephone number available, amount of telephone numbersunavailable, etc. The telephone number utilization report is discussedin further detail below.

In another example, telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output telephone number usage forecastdata as depicted in FIG. 15, FIG. 16A, and FIG. 16B. As shown, FIG. 15illustrates an exemplary screen display of a K-block analysis report1500 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. In various embodiments,the telephone number management system 102 may be configured to generateand/or output a K-block analysis report 1500 for a user. The K-blockanalysis report 1500 may provide a view of telephone number usage invarious K-blocks. In various embodiments, the K-block analysis report1500 may be used to determine which, if any, K-blocks are contaminatedand/or which, if any, K-blocks are uncontaminated. For example, theK-block analysis report 1500 may indicate that five K-blocks 1502 arenot contaminated. Accordingly, the K-block analysis report 1500 may showthat none of the telephone numbers associated with these five K-blocksare assigned and/or unavailable by displaying that one-thousand (1,000)telephone numbers are available for each K-block 1504. In variousembodiments, the K-block analysis report 1500 may indicate the ratecenter 1506 of each K-block.

In addition, the K-block analysis report 1500 may indicate that the“508-788-8” K-block 1508 is contaminated. Accordingly, the K-blockanalysis report 1500 may show that some of the telephone numbersassociated with the “508-788-8” K-block are assigned and/or unavailableby displaying that three-hundred eight (308) telephone numbers areavailable and “600” 1510 telephone numbers are not available.

FIG. 16A illustrates an exemplary screen display of a portion of aK-Block request 1600 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Invarious embodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output a portion of a K-block request form1600 for a user. The K-block request form 1600 may be used to requestadditional telephone number resources from various government agenciesfor areas that are experiencing telephone number resource exhaust. TheK-block request form 1600 may be filled out by a user and submitted tothe various government agencies using the telephone number managementsystem 102.

In various embodiments, the K-block request form 1600 may display one ormore data fields for a user to fill associated with a “NPA” level 1602,a “Number of K-blocks requested” 1604, a “Switching Identification(CLLI)” 1606, and/or a “Rate Center” 1608. In addition, the K-blockrequest form 1600 may display the “Date of Application” 1610 and/or a“Requested Expedited Treatment” button 1612.

FIG. 16B illustrates an exemplary screen display of another portion of aK-Block request 1602 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Invarious embodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output a portion of a K-block request form1602 for a user. The K-block request form 1602 may be used to providemonths to exhaust data (e.g., telephone number forecast usage data,telephone number utilization data, etc.) to various government agenciesto request additional K-blocks.

In various embodiments, the K-block request form 1602 may display one ormore tables associated with “Previous 6 Month Growth History” 1614and/or “Projected 12 Month Incremental Demand” 1616 to assist one ormore relevant governmental agencies in determining whether to grant arequest for additional K-blocks. In addition, the K-block request form1602 may display a “Threshold Months to Exhaust” of six (6) 1618.

FIG. 20 illustrates a method 2000 for managing an inventory of telephonenumbers in accordance with exemplary embodiments. This exemplary methodis provided by way of example, as there are a variety of ways to carryout methods disclosed herein. The method 2000 shown in FIG. 20 can beexecuted or otherwise performed by one or a combination of varioussystems. The method 2000 is described below as carried out by thetelephone number management system 102 shown in FIG. 1 by way ofexample, and various elements of the telephone number management system102 are referenced in explaining the example method of FIG. 20. Eachblock shown in FIG. 20 represents one or more processes, methods, orsubroutines carried in the exemplary method 2000. Referring to FIG. 20,the exemplary method 2000 may begin at block 2002.

In block 2002, the method 200 may include an inventory module 200receiving and/or storing telephone number inventory data. Inventory datamay include a snap shot of available telephone numbers, assignedtelephone numbers, negotiated telephone numbers, and/or any other statusof a telephone number that indicates inventory data. An availabletelephone number may include a telephone number that is not assigned toa customer and is therefore available for selection. An assignedtelephone number may include a telephone number that is assigned to acustomer and is therefore not available for selection. A negotiatedtelephone number may include a telephone number that is in theprocessing of being negotiated to be assigned to a customer and istherefore not available for selection. If, for example, the negotiatedtelephone number is not assigned to a customer after a negotiationprocess, the negotiated telephone number may become an availabletelephone number. The method 2000 may continue to block 2004.

In block 2004, the method 2000 may include an interface module 206receiving a request for telephone number usage forecast data from a usersystem. Telephone number usage forecast data may include an estimationof the amount of available telephone numbers, unavailable telephonenumbers, and/or negotiated telephone numbers for a period of time in thefuture. The method 2000 may continue to block 2006.

In various embodiments, receiving a request for telephone number usageforecast data may be depicted in one or more screen displays as depictedin FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6A, FIG. 6B, and FIG. 7. FIG. 4 illustrates anexemplary screen display of input parameters 400 in accordance withexemplary embodiments. After a user has logged into the telephone numbermanagement system 102 using a user system, the user may navigate to thescreen display of telephone number input parameters 400. As shown, inputparameters may include time interval information 402, level of expansioninformation 404, and/or filter information 406. Using this screendisplay of input parameters 400, users may be able to input differentinput parameters, such as, a rate center, a state, a wire center, aswitch, a NPA, a NXX, and/or any other input parameter to facilitatefiltering.

In various embodiments, the user may submit the input parameters to thetelephone number management system 102 to cause the generation and/oroutput of a telephone number utilization report in real-time and/or at ascheduled time using the “Submit” button 408. The user may schedule thegeneration and/or output of the telephone number utilization reportusing the “Schedule” button 410. The user may reset the screen displayto clear the input parameters using the “Reset” button 412. The user mayarrange the data hierarchy using the “Column Organizer” button 414. Theuser may request “help” from the telephone number management system 102using the “Help” button 416. The user may exit out of the telephonenumber input parameters 400 screen display using the “Close” button 418.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a telephone numberutilization report 500 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Basedon the input parameters provided by the user, the telephone numbermanagement system 102 may generate and/or output a telephone numberutilization report 500. By accessing and/or navigating the telephonenumber utilization report 500, a user may perform the followingoperations: view the telephone number utilization data, expand the statelevel to view the telephone number usage data at a rate center level,expand a particular rate center level to view the telephone number usagedata at a NPA level, provide the level of expansion input parameter,manipulate the data hierarchy using the column organizer.

In various embodiments, the telephone number utilization report 500 maydisplay the amount of telephone numbers associated with a particularrate center at the state level (e.g., California, etc.) using a chart.For example, the total amount of telephone numbers associated with theCalifornia rate center may include “9,158,996” as shown in the “INST”column 502. The telephone number utilization report 500 may display theamount of telephone numbers available in a particular rate center. Forexample, the amount of telephone numbers available for the Californiarate center may include “1,867,261” as shown in the “AVAL” column 504.The telephone number utilization report 500 may display the amount oftelephone numbers unavailable in a particular rate center. For example,the amount of telephone numbers unavailable for the California ratecenter may include “7,291,735” as shown in the “UNAV” column 506. Thetelephone number utilization report 500 may display the amount of timeto return the query results (e.g., “2 sec”, etc.) using a “Query took”indicator 508. The user may return to the input parameters display, asdepicted in FIG. 4, using the “Return to Input Parameters” button 510.

FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary screen display of current datahierarchy in accordance with exemplary embodiments. As previouslydiscussed, a user may customize the data hierarchy using the columnorganizer 600. The column organizer 600 may organize data into “Levels”606 and/or “Measures” 608. Based on the current column organizer 600,the telephone number utilization report may be configured to displaydata associated with the state level, rate center level, NPA level, NXXlevel, and/or K-block level since the corresponding buttons 604 havebeen activated.

In various embodiments, the data hierarchy may be redefined by the userusing drag-and-drop operations. In various embodiments, one or more datalevels and/or data measures may be removed by un-checking the box nextto the unwanted data level and/or unwanted data measure.

FIG. 6B illustrates an exemplary screen display of modified datahierarchy in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Based on the userspreferences, the user may modify the data hierarchy. For example, basedon the modified column organizer 602, the telephone number utilizationreport may be configured to display data associated with the NPA level,NXX level, state level, rate center level, and/or switch level in thatorder since the corresponding levels 610 have been rearranged.

After applying the column organizer settings depicted in FIG. 6B, atelephone number utilization report may be arranged as depicted in FIG.7. FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a telephone numberutilization report 700 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Aspreviously discussed, based on the users preferences a user may modifythe data hierarchy. Accordingly, the telephone number utilization report700 may be arranged to display the data according to the modified datahierarchy, such as, the NPA level data, the NXX level data, the statelevel data, the rate center level data, and/or the switch level data inthat hierarchy as shown in the “Location” column 702.

In various embodiments, the user may export the hierarchical data viewto a spreadsheet using the “Export Data” button 704.

Referring back to FIG. 20 again, in block 2006, the method 2000 mayinclude a telephone number forecasting module 208 calculating one ormore telephone number usage forecasts based on the inventory data. Invarious embodiments, calculating one or more telephone number usageforecasts may include the telephone number forecast module 208determining a percentage of telephone number utilization for eachtelephone number servicing area. Based on the percentage of telephonenumber utilization, telephone number forecast module 208 may determineif a particular telephone number servicing area is near exhaustion bycomparing the percentage of telephone number utilization to apre-determined exhaustion threshold. The method 2000 may continue toblock 2008.

In various embodiments, calculating one or more telephone number usageforecasts may include generating and/or outputting telephone numberusage forecast data associated with one or more screen displays asdepicted in FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 10, FIG. 11, and FIG. 12. FIG. 8illustrates an exemplary screen display of an inward activity report 800in accordance with exemplary embodiments. In various embodiments, thetelephone number management system 102 may be configured to generateand/or output an inward activity report 800 for a user. The inwardactivity report 800 may provide a historical and/or aggregate view oftelephone number new connect activity at various levels. The inwardactivity report 800 may provide the view of telephone number new connectactivity at the state level, rate center level, and/or switch levels asshown in the “Location” column 802. The inward activity report 800 mayprovide the view of telephone number new connect activity associatedwith a time period, such as, January of 2008 as shown in the “Time”column 804. The inward activity report 800 may provide the view of thetotal amount of telephone number new connections of five-hundred sixteen(516) and/or total amount of telephone numbers of “77,000” associatedwith a particular rate center at the state level (e.g., California,etc.) as shown in the “Measures” column 806.

In various embodiments, the inward activity report 800 may be used totrack telephone number connection activity growth and/or identify dataspikes that may distort telephone number usage forecasts.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary screen display of an outward activityreport 900 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. In variousembodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output an outward activity report 900 fora user. The outward activity report 900 may provide a historical and/oraggregate view of telephone number disconnect activity at variouslevels. The outward activity report 900 may provide the view oftelephone number disconnect activity at the state level, rate centerlevel, and/or switch level as shown in the “Location” column 902. Theoutward activity report 900 may provide the view of telephone numberdisconnect activity associated with a time period, such as, January of2008 as shown in the “Time” column 904. The outward activity report 900may provide the view of the total amount of telephone numberdisconnections of six-hundred forty-seven (647) and/or total amount oftelephone numbers of “77,000” associated with a particular rate centerat the state level (e.g., California, etc.) as shown in the “Measures”column 906.

In various embodiments, the outward activity report 900 may be used tofor marketing purposes to prevent significant customer loss in variousareas. For example, a marketing and/or sales department associated withthe telephone number management system 102 may analyze the outwardactivity data to devise new promotional packages to customers in areasexperiencing significant customer loss.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a forecast detailreport 1000 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. In variousembodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output a forecast detail report 1000 for auser. The forecast detail report 1000 may provide the telephone numberusage forecast data associated with a forecast. For example, thetelephone number usage forecast data may include an amount ofunavailable telephone number, an amount of available telephone numbers,and/or any other telephone number usage data for past time intervals,current time intervals, and/or future time intervals. The telephonenumber usage forecast data may be used to analyze forecast trends.

In various embodiments, the forecast detail report 1000 may display timeperiods starting with time periods farthest in the past to time periodsfarthest in the future as shown in the “Month” column 1002 for aparticular telephone number servicing area, such as, the NPA “209”telephone number servicing area. The forecast detail report 1000 maydisplay an amount of unavailable telephone numbers associated with atime period, such as, “57,896” telephone numbers unavailable in Februaryof 2007 as shown in the “UNAV” column 1004. The forecast detail report1000 may display an amount of available telephone numbers associatedwith a time period, such as, “19,104” telephone numbers available inFebruary of 2007 as shown in the “AVAL” column 1006. As shown, theforecast detail report 1000 may be based on historical trends in thetop-half of the report and may be based on future months forecastedtrends in the bottom-half of the report.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a telephone numberforecast report 1100 at a rate center view in accordance with exemplaryembodiments. In various embodiments, the telephone number managementsystem 102 may be configured to generate and/or output a telephonenumber forecast report 1100 for a user. The telephone number forecastreport 1100 may provide a projection, based on historical trends, of howmany new K-blocks would be required over the next 5 years to meetcustomer demand.

The telephone number forecast report 1100 may display a view of ratecenters associated with a projection of needed K-blocks in the “RC”column 1104. The telephone number forecast report 1100 may displayfuture time periods associated with a projection of needed K-blocks inthe future time period columns 1102.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a twelve-monthforecast report 1200 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Invarious embodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output a twelve-month forecast report 1200for a user. The twelve-month forecast report 1200 may provide a month bymonth one year forecast of expected customer demand for telephone numberresources.

The twelve-month forecast report 1200 may display a view of rate centersassociated with a twelve-month projection of needed telephone numberresources in the “Rate Area” column 1202. The twelve-month forecastreport 1200 may display future time periods associated with atwelve-month projection of needed telephone number resources in thefuture in the future time period columns 1104.

Referring to FIG. 20 again, in block 2008, if the percentage oftelephone number utilization is greater than the pre-determinedexhaustion threshold, the telephone number forecasting module 208 maydetermine that the particular telephone number servicing area is closeto exhaustion the method 2000 may proceed to block 2010.

In block 2010, the method 200 may include the interface module 206outputting an indication of the particular telephone number servicingarea that is close to exhaustion to the user. The method 2000 mayproceed to block 2012.

In various embodiments, outputting an indication of particular telephonenumber servicing areas that may be close to exhaustion may includegenerating and/or outputting one or more jeopardy areas associated withone or more screen displays as depicted in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14. FIG. 13illustrates an exemplary screen display of a jeopardy analysis report1300 at a rate center view in accordance with exemplary embodiments. Invarious embodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may beconfigured to generate and/or output a jeopardy analysis report 1300 fora user. The jeopardy analysis report 1300 may provide an evaluation ofareas that are experiencing an exhaust of telephone number resources atvarious levels, such as, the rate center level as shown in the “RC”column 1302. For example, the jeopardy analysis report 1300 may identifythe areas associated with a particular rate center that are nearest totelephone number exhaust by displaying them in ascending order ofremaining months until exhaust as shown in the “MTE” column 1304. Thejeopardy analysis report 1300 may display which particular rate centerareas are eligible for requesting additional K-blocks based on thejeopardy analysis data as shown in the “ELIG” column 1306. As shown, the“HEMT SNJC” rate center area may be eligible for requesting additionalK-blocks since that particular telephone number servicing area has“3.20” months remaining until exhaust as shown in the “MTE” column 1304.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary screen display of a jeopardy analysisreport 1400 at a switch level view in accordance with exemplaryembodiments. In various embodiments, the telephone number managementsystem 102 may be configured to generate and/or output a jeopardyanalysis report 1400 for a user. The jeopardy analysis report 1400 mayprovide an evaluation of areas that are experiencing an exhaust oftelephone number resources at various levels, such as, the switch levelview as shown in the “CLLI” column 1402. For example, the jeopardyanalysis report 1400 may identify the areas associated with a particularswitch that are nearest to telephone number exhaust by displaying themin ascending order of remaining months until exhaust as shown in the“EXH” column 1404.

Referring to FIG. 20 again, if, however, the percentage of telephonenumber utilization is less than the pre-determined exhaustion threshold,the telephone number forecasting module 208 may determine that theparticular telephone number servicing area is not close to exhaustionand may proceed to block 2012.

In block 2012, the method 200 may include the interface module 206outputting telephone number usage forecast data to the user. In variousembodiments, the telephone number management system 102 may output thetelephone number usage forecast data in the form of various reports. Themethod 2000 may then end.

FIG. 21 illustrates a method 2100 for selecting a telephone number inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. This exemplary method is providedby way of example, as there are a variety of ways to carry out methodsdisclosed herein. The method 2100 shown in FIG. 21 can be executed orotherwise performed by one or a combination of various systems. Themethod 2100 is described below as carried out by the telephone numbermanagement system 102 shown in FIG. 1 by way of example, and variouselements of the telephone number management system 102 are referenced inexplaining the example method of FIG. 21. Each block shown in FIG. 21represents one or more processes, methods, or subroutines carried in theexemplary method 2100. Referring to FIG. 21, the exemplary method 2100may begin at block 2102.

In block 2102, the method 2100 may include an interface module 206receiving a request for a telephone number from a user one behalf of acustomer. In various embodiments, a request for a telephone number mayinclude a unique customer identification number information associatedwith a specific type of telephone number desired by the customer, acustomer address, and/or any other information that may be used toprocess a request for one or more telephone numbers. The method 2100 maycontinue to block 2104.

In various embodiments, receiving a request for a telephone number mayinclude generating one or more screen displays as depicted in FIG. 19B.FIG. 19B illustrates exemplary screen displays of a telephone numberselection graphical user interface in accordance with exemplaryembodiments. In various embodiments, the telephone number managementsystem 102 may be configured to generate and/or output screen display1904 of a telephone number graphical user interface for a user.

Using these screen displays, the user may search for a telephone numberfor a customer. As previously discussed, the telephone number managementsystem 102 may be configured to support various types of telephonenumber requests. For example, the telephone number management system 102may be configured to support wildcard telephone number searching asshown in data field 1920. In another example, the telephone numbermanagement system 102 may be configured to support “LAST_THREE_SAME”telephone number searching as shown in data field 1922. As shown, thescreen display 1904 may display one or more available telephone numbers,such as, a telephone number that is not associated with a pattern, atelephone number with a repetitive pattern, and/or a telephone numberwith the last three digits being the same as shown in display box 1924.

Referring to FIG. 21 again, in block 2104, the method 2100 may include atelephone number selection module 210 applying various search phasesand/or applying various search criteria. The first search phase mayinclude searching for a telephone number that is associated with aparticular target switch level. The second search phase may includesearching for a telephone number that is associated with one or moreother switches in the same wire center (e.g., target wire center, etc.)as the target switch. The third search phase (e.g., rate center search,etc.) may include searching one or more other switches associated withthe rate center and that are outside of the target wire center.

The telephone number selection module 210 may execute the seven stepalgorithm (e.g., search criteria) to search for progressively betterquality telephone numbers using the rating code. The method 2100 maycontinue to block 2106.

In various embodiments, applying various search phases and/or applyingvarious search criteria may include applying the search phases and/orapplying the search criteria as depicted in FIG. 17 and/or FIG. 18. FIG.17 illustrates an exemplary three phase telephone number selectionprocess 1700 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. As previouslydiscussed, searching for a telephone number may include performing threesearch phases. The first search phase may include searching for atelephone number that is associated with a particular target switchlevel as shown in Phase one (1) 1702. The second search phase mayinclude searching for a telephone number that is associated with one ormore other switches in the same wire center (e.g., target wire center,etc.) as the target switch as shown in Phase two (2) 1704. The thirdsearch phase (e.g., rate center search, etc.) may include searching oneor more other switches associated with the rate center and that areoutside of the target wire center as shown in Phase three (3) 1706.

By way of a non-limiting example, the telephone number management system102 may employ the three phase search technique as shown in FIG. 17. Forexample, according to the first search phase, the telephone numbermanagement system 102 may search switch A 1708 (e.g., target switch,etc.) that is associated with wire center one (1) 1710 (e.g., targetwire center, etc.). If a sufficient telephone number is not locatedduring the first search phase, the telephone number management system102 may search switch B 1712 that is associated with wire center one (1)1710 according to the second search phase. If a sufficient telephonenumber is not located during the second search phase, the telephonenumber management system 102 may search switch C 1714 and switch D 1716that are associated with wire center two (2) 1718 and switch E 1720 andswitch F 1722 that are associated with wire center three (3) 1724 untila sufficient telephone number is located.

In various embodiments, a user of the telephone number management system102 may limit the search phases. For example, the user of the telephonenumber management system 102 may limit the search phases to the firstsearch phase. Accordingly, the second search phase and the third searchphase will not be invoked.

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary telephone number selection algorithm1800 in accordance with exemplary embodiments. As previously discussed,within each search phase of the telephone number searching process, thetelephone number management system 102 may be configured to search forprogressively better quality telephone numbers by executing specificsearch criteria. For example, the telephone number management system 102may be configured to search for and/or retrieve telephone numbersassociated with a higher rating code (e.g., line number ending with“000”) and telephone numbers in sequence groups (e.g., a group ofavailable telephone numbers associated with an incremental sequence) inthe event the supply of normal telephone numbers (e.g., telephonenumbers not associated with a defined pattern) is low. A rating code mayinclude a rating that that indicates the quality of a telephone numberbased on the pattern of the last four digits of a ten digit telephonenumber.

As shown in “Rating Code” 1802, the telephone number management system102 may utilize four rating codes, such as, rating code one (0001),rating code two (0002), rating code three (0003) and/or rating code five(0005). Rating code one (0001) may include telephone numbers ending withdigits of multiples of one-thousand (1000), excluding zero (0000) (e.g.,“1000,” “5000,” “6000,” etc.). Rating code two (0002) may includetelephone numbers ending with digits of multiples of one-hundred (100),excluding zero (0000) (e.g., “1200,” “1300,” “1400,” etc.). Rating codethree (0003) may include telephone numbers associated with a specificpattern excluding telephone number that belong to rating code one (0001)and rating code two (0002), such as, the all same pattern (e.g., “1111,”“7777,” etc.), the any three same pattern (e.g., “1115,” “3833,” etc.),the last three same pattern (e.g., “4333,” “2999,” etc.), the any doublepattern (e.g., “2263,” “6223,” etc.), the double double pattern (e.g.,“4455,” “7733,” etc.), the first three same pattern (e.g., “9993,”“2227,” etc.), the mirrored pattern (e.g., “6446,” “7557,” etc.), therepetitive pattern (e.g., “2323,” “8484,” etc.), the ascendingsequential pattern (e.g., “3456,” “7890,” etc.), and/or the descendingsequential pattern (e.g., “7654,” “9876,” etc.).

As shown in the search criteria 1804, the telephone number managementsystem 102 may execute the seven step algorithm (e.g., search criteria)to search for progressively better quality telephone numbers using therating code. For example, step 1 may be associated with a rating code offive (5) and may include searching for one or more telephone numbersthat are not associated with a pattern and are not associated with asequence group. Step 2 may be associated with a rating code of five (5)and may include searching for one or more telephone numbers that are notassociated with a pattern and are associated with a sequence group oftwo (2) to nine (9). Step 3 may be associated with a rating code ofthree (3) and may include searching for one or more good telephonenumbers that are not associated with multiples of one-thousand (1000)and multiples of one-hundred (100) and are not associated with asequence group. Step 4 may be associated with a rating code of three (3)and may include searching for one or more good telephone numbers thatare not associated with multiples of one-thousand (1000) and multiplesof one-hundred (100) and are associated with a sequence group of two (2)to nine (9). Step 5 may be associated with a rating code of five (5) andmay include searching for one or more telephone numbers that are notassociated with a pattern and are associated with a sequence group ofless than one-hundred (100). Step 6 may be associated with a rating codeof three (3) and may include searching for one or more good telephonenumbers that are associated with a sequence group of less thanone-hundred (100). Step 7 may not be associated with a rating code andmay include searching for one or more telephone numbers that areavailable.

Referring to FIG. 21 again, in block 2106, the method 2100 may include atelephone number selection module 210 retrieving and/or returning atelephone number for the customer.

In various embodiments, retrieving and/or returning a telephone numberfor a customer may include generating one or more screen displays asdepicted in FIG. 19C. FIG. 19C illustrates exemplary screen displays ofa telephone number selection graphical user interface in accordance withexemplary embodiments. In various embodiments, the telephone numbermanagement system 102 may be configured to generate and/or output screendisplay 1906 of a telephone number graphical user interface for a user.

Using this screen display, the user may view one or more telephonenumbers retrieved and/or returned for a customer. For example, acustomer may have requested five consecutive telephone numbers as shownin data field 1940 and data field 1942. Accordingly, the telephonenumber management system 102 may search for, retrieve, and/or returnfive consecutive telephone numbers as shown in display box 1944.Referring to FIG. 21 again, the method 2100 may then end.

FIG. 19A and FIG. 19D illustrate exemplary screen displays of atelephone number selection graphical user interface in accordance withexemplary embodiments. FIGS. 19A and 19C illustrate exemplary screendisplays of a telephone number selection graphical user interface inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. In various embodiments, thetelephone number management system 102 may be configured to generateand/or output screen displays 1900 and/or 1908 of a telephone numbergraphical user interface for a user.

In various embodiments, a user may ensure that the telephone numbermanagement system 102 is first exhausting K-blocks with the leastavailable telephone numbers by viewing display box 1950 of FIG. 19A. Invarious embodiments, the a user may view the prior grouping ofconsecutive telephone numbers by the telephone number management system102 by viewing display box 1960 of FIG. 19D.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto,and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing fromthe broader scope of the invention as set forth in the claims thatfollow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded inan illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: storing telephone number inventory data using adatabase associated with a network; receiving, from a user system, arequest for telephone number forecast data; forecasting future telephonenumber usage based on at least a history of telephone number inventorydata; and providing, to the user system, telephone number forecast databased on at least the forecast of future telephone number usage.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving on a snap shot of aninventory of telephone numbers on a periodic basis.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein receiving on the snap shot of the inventory oftelephone numbers on a periodic basis comprises receiving the snap shotof the inventory of telephone numbers on a monthly basis.
 4. The methodof claim 2, wherein the periodic basis comprises at least one of a dailybasis, a weekly basis, and a biweekly basis.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein receiving, from the user system, the request for telephonenumber forecast data comprises receiving one or more input parameters.6. The method of claim 5, wherein one or more input parameters includesat least one of time interval information, level of expansioninformation, and filter information.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinforecasting future telephone number usage further comprises estimatingan amount of telephone numbers needed based on past telephone numberusage data.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing, to the usersystem, telephone number forecast data further comprises providing oneor more telephone number forecast reports.
 9. A computer readable mediacomprising code to perform the acts of the method of claim
 1. 10. Asystem, comprising: a database for storing telephone number inventorydata associated with managing an inventory of telephone numbers; and anetwork element communicatively coupled to the database and a networkconfigured to: receive request data, from a user system, wherein therequest data comprises a request for information relating at least inpart to managing an inventory of telephone numbers, forecast futuretelephone number usage based on at least a history of telephone numberinventory data, and provide, to the user system, telephone numberforecast data based on at least the forecast of future telephone numberusage.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the database is furtherconfigured to receive a snap shot of an inventory of telephone numberson a periodic basis.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein beingconfigured to receive the snap shot of the inventory of telephonenumbers on a periodic basis further comprises being configured toreceive the snap shop of the inventory of telephone numbers on a monthlybasis.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the periodic basis comprisesat least one of a daily basis, a weekly basis, and a biweekly basis. 14.The system of claim 10, wherein the network element is furtherconfigured to receive one or more input parameters.
 15. The system ofclaim 14, wherein one or more input parameters includes at least one oftime interval information, level of expansion information, and filterinformation.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein the network element isfurther configured to estimate an amount of telephone numbers neededbased on at least past telephone number usage data.
 17. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the network element is further configured to provideone or more telephone number forecast reports.
 18. A method, comprising:receiving a request for one or more telephone numbers from a usersystem; searching for the one or more telephone numbers usingpredetermined search criteria; and providing the one or more telephonenumbers to the user system based on at least an application of thepredetermined search criteria.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinpredetermined search criteria includes at least one of locate one ormore telephone numbers that are not associated with a pattern and arenot associated with a sequence group, locate one or more telephonenumbers that are not associated with a pattern and are associated with asequence group of two to nine, locate one or more telephone numbers thatare not associated with multiples of 1000 and multiples of 100 and arenot associated with a sequence group, locate one or more telephonenumbers that are not associated with multiples of 1000 and multiples of100 and are associated with a sequence group of two to nine, locate oneor more telephone numbers that are not associated with a pattern and areassociated with a sequence group of less than 100, locate one or moretelephone numbers that are associated with a sequence group of less than100, and locate one or more telephone numbers that are available.
 20. Acomputer readable media comprising code to perform the acts of themethod of claim
 18. 21. A system, comprising: a database for storingdata associated with managing an inventory of telephone numbers; and anetwork element communicatively coupled to the database and a networkconfigured to: receive a request for one or more telephone numbers froma user system; search for the one or more telephone numbers usingpredetermined search criteria; and provide the one or more telephonenumbers to the user system based on at least an application of thepredetermined search criteria.
 22. The system of claim 21, whereinpredetermined search criteria includes at least one of locate one ormore telephone numbers that are not associated with a pattern and arenot associated with a sequence group, locate one or more telephonenumbers that are not associated with a pattern and are associated with asequence group of two to nine, locate one or more telephone numbers thatare not associated with multiples of 1000 and multiples of 100 and arenot associated with a sequence group, locate one or more telephonenumbers that are not associated with multiples of 1000 and multiples of100 and are associated with a sequence group of two to nine, locate oneor more telephone numbers that are not associated with a pattern and areassociated with a sequence group of less than 100, locate one or moretelephone numbers that are associated with a sequence group of less than100, and locate one or more telephone numbers that are available.